Vacation to NEW YORK and OHIO

We flew to Ohio on July 14 and the next day we headed up to New York to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant and church history sites. We were able to go to the Joseph Smith Home and the Sacred Grove.

Then we headed over to Niagara Falls and Brandon and I got to ride the Maid of the Mist.

When we got back from New York it was Bran's BIRTHDAY...He turned 5 on July 18! He got to have two full days of Birthday fun, which included a toy story cake, a trip to Chuck E Cheese and a pinata. Some of his favorite b-day gifts were a new DS and a real fur kitten.

Later that week we decided to check out a children's museum in Cleveland. It was pretty ghetto on the outside and we wondered if we should even go in...we decided to go in, and the kids were in LOVE! They had so much fun, they were totally bummed when we told them it was time to go.

But no worries, they had plenty of fun swimming and fishing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Also, Grandma took the boys to the Dollar Store which kept them very happy.

We also had a lot of fun visiting with family (Great Grandma's Ketterman and George, Randy, Carla, and Jodi, Joyce, Nickcole and boys, and also Uncle Danny).

We flew home on July 24 and our boys did a great job flying...it was a fun vacation, but I guess it's time for real life now.....time to have responsibilities again!

4th of July Weekend

On Friday, one of my best friends got married.

Julie, Me and Kate

Meet the new Kate Hudson!
(ps, I'm not sure why I look like a man is this picture...at least Kate looks BEAUTIFUL)

On Saturday, I finished redecorating my living room.

I LOVE IT! I gave it a new beachy/cabin feel. I now love to just sit in my living room and relax.


On Sunday, we did all the normal Sunday things and then in the evening we had some friends over for some:YUMMY! We also had lots of good laughs around our fire pit.


On Monday:

Brandon got to use his new truck for some MANLY stuff.

And then he got to:

YAY, we are so excited to get our fence up. No more finding Trey in the street!

Speaking of Trey:

He was super excited to wear Bran's old SpongeBob outfit.

And Bran...

He had a blast on the slip and slide.

Later Monday night, we got with some friends and played/practiced a little:

I had all the boys saying this....Just kidding....We are excited to be on a rec team with some of our friends in the ward. We start playing games in August.

So, even though our 4th of July weekend had no fireworks, it was still a pretty fun and productive weekend.

Before/After and My Nemesis!

Before

After

Before

After
Which allowed us to do this:

Which actually only lasted until about 12:30am!


Finally, my Nemesis!

The kids love it, I hate it.
It wouldn't be so bad if they boys would pour the sand out of their shoes outside, but they don't...Grrr!

RADkids

Bran had the opportunity to take a RADkids (self defense) class this week. Today was his graduation and he got to actually defend himself against a "bad guy". I was so proud of him, I thought he might be too scared to do it, but he did just fine and it was so fun to watch him. I feel so inspired by this class that I am going to take a RADwomens class later this year.

Word to the Wise...You better not mess with Bran!

Spring Break...and all that JAZZ

Watch out world, I'm going to be a Spring Breaker again!!! I mean, when I was in school, especially in college, spring break was a pretty big deal, but since I've entered the "real" world there's been no spring break. But now that Bran is a preschooler...I get to celebrate Spring Break again. YAY!
Truth be told, we didn't have any extravagant plans. But we did manage to do a few fun things.
1st-We went to a Jazz game. We had totally crappy seats, as you can probably tell from the pictures. And the only thing Bran and Trey cared about was the Jazz Bear and lucky for them the Salt Lake Bee was there too. But I must say we had a fun time and I am now officially a Jazz fan! They beat the Oklahoma City, Bobcats in overtime. It was a great game. I even found myself wanting a Jazz t-shirt to show my team spirit (sadly, I didn't get one)! But I did get a bag of Kettle Corn, which I didn't open at the game because I thought it would make for a great treat that night when we got home and were trying to unwind from the day. However, that bag of Kettle Corn never made it home. After the game, when we were walking to our car, Brandon made eye contact with a homeless guy and since he had no money to give him, he gave him MY bag of Kettle Corn. Did you hear that, MY bag of Kettle Corn. At first I was pretty devastated...I mean Kettle Corn from the Energy Solutions Arena isn't something you get everyday...I mean, that's a pretty special treat. But after I thought about it for a few minutes, I realized, I am grateful I have such a generous and caring husband.
2nd-We had the Godfrey family come stay with us for a night and join us for some fun. We went to Jumpin' Jacks and Pirate's Island. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. And Ashley and I had fun shopping with no kids...again, what a generous husband I have to watch the kids while I go shopping (you too, Cody)! If there is one thing my kids love most, it's being with their cousins. Thanks Godfreys' for making spring break fun for my boys.
Well, I guess that's all we did, but with a 2 & 4 year old, that's all you need to do. I need to really appreciate how simple life is with little kids, because I have a feeling it won't be as simple when they are older.

P.S. Thank goodness for spell check!!!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. First the boys got a special Easter package from G&G Ketterman with matching jammies and lots of dinosaur eggs. Then we went to G&G Buttars for a mega Easter Egg hunt with all the cousins. And to top it all off, the Easter bunny came and brought the boys stuffed animals and lots of treats. While Easter has lots of fun traditions we are grateful for the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. We feel so blessed to know that we will all live again and have the opportunity to be with our families forever.

January to March 2010

Trey turned 2 on Jan. 15. We let him open his presents at home and then we headed to Logan for a birthday party with his cousins.

Trey is so happy to have a SpongeBob pillow like his big brother. Thanks G&G Ketterman!
As a side note SpongeBob was one of Trey's first words!

It was fun to watch the cousins hit the pinata (that was Bran's idea to have a pinata at Trey's b-day party).

We can't go to the mall without letting the boys take a ride or two on the quarter cars.

Pirate Island is a new restaurant in Orem that we really enjoy going to. It is kind-of like
Chuck -E-Cheese, but way cooler!

Trey and Daddy....How precious.

So, my boys like to make fashion statements!

Here is Bran in the craziest pj outfit he could come up with. Both my boys like to wear non matching pj's.

On any given day, this is what Trey looks like! I guess he is really embracing the
off the shoulder style!!

Brandon turned 31 on March 2nd.

Bran insisted we need to have decorations at Daddy's birthday party!

We were so excited that we got to go to Disney on Ice this year. To make the day even better, G&G Buttars came with us.

CARS...this happens to be Trey's favorite movie. I think after the cars left the ice Trey could have gone home a happy little boy. We also got to see the Little Mermaid, Lion King, and TinkerBell.

My little studs!

Why are little kids in sunglasses the cutest thing ever?!

Our Sunday impromptu photo shoot.

So Cute!

I love my BOYS!

So far this year has been good to us.
Here's to the next three months!
(unless I can get my lazy bum to blog sooner that that)!

Trey Breaks TV # 2

Peggy called me today and let me know that Trey had broken another TV today. About a year ago we walked into the family room downstairs to a TV knocked to the ground off of the entertainment center and a sizzling noise and smoke. Trey knocked it off at just around age 1.

Well we thought we learned better so we got another TV and mounted this one on the wall out of Trey's reach and in a way he couldn't knock it on the ground. Well he took a Mario Cart wheel and started hitting the TV screen and now it's spidered the way LCD's spider and is toast. At this rate by age 10 we'll replace 10 TV's.

I came home took it down and made sure Branson knew he could have stopped his brother and made sure Trey knew he was in the wrong. It's days like this that my boys end up liking their mommy much better than me. Trey better go into some type of demolition when he's older or he'll be wasting some major skills. Looks like the Wii will be collecting dust and the boys will have to find something other than TV to entertain them.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The boys were so excited to put up our Christmas Tree.

Bran's 1st Primary Talk

Bran gave his 1st Primary talk on Nov. 29.
He did such a GREAT job.
He even helped write his talk.

"My Family and I can Serve each Other.
To serve means to help.
I like to help my Dad rake leaves.
I like to help my Mom with the dishes.
I like to help my little brother pick up toys.
I'm glad Heavenly Father gave me my family.
In the name a Jesus Christ. Amen"

7 Years!

On Nov. 13, 2009 Brandon and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary!
Brandon's parents watched our kids and we got to have a night to ourselves at the Anniversary Inn in Logan. We stayed in the room, Joanie's Diner, which was so fun.

There was a phone booth, a juke box, and Brandon's favorite...

Betty Boop!

Here's to seven years and no itch! I love you, Brandon.